Joe Prunty

Joe Prunty
Phoenix Suns
Position Assistant coach
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1969-02-12) February 12, 1969
Sunnyvale, California
Nationality American
Career information
High school Fremont (Sunnyvale, California)
College Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Coaching career 1996–present
Career history
As coach:
1996–2005 San Antonio Spurs (assistant)
2005–2008 Dallas Mavericks (assistant)
2008–2010 Portland Trail Blazers (assistant)
2010–2013 Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant)
2013–2014 Brooklyn Nets (assistant)
2014–2018 Milwaukee Bucks (assistant)
2018 Milwaukee Bucks (interim)
2018-present Phoenix Suns (assistant)
Career highlights and awards

As assistant coach:

Joe Prunty (born February 12, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who is currently the leading assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he served as the interim head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018 and was the head coach of the Great Britain men's national basketball team from June 2013 until September 2017.[1][2]

Early career

Prunty was born in Sunnyvale, California and graduated from Fremont High School. He played college basketball at De Anza College in Cupertino, California before going on to earn a bachelor's degree in Speech Communications from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He began his coaching career in 1992 in San Diego, California, coaching at University of San Diego High School and St. Augustine High School. During his time as a high school coach, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton, former Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior, and former Chicago White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin were among his players.[3][4] Before being a professional basketball coach, he previously worked as a beer salesman for Anheuser-Busch products in San Diego.[5]

NBA coaching career

While coaching at the high school level, former University of San Diego head coach Hank Egan informed Prunty of a possible opening in the San Antonio Spurs organization.[6] Based on this tip, Prunty joined the coaching staff of the Spurs as an assistant video coordinator. He left briefly in April 1997 to become an assistant coach at the University of San Diego but returned to the Spurs for the 1997-1998 season, eventually being promoted to assistant coach in 2000.[4] During his time with the Spurs, the team won championships in 1999, 2003, and 2005.

In 2006, he left San Antonio to become a Dallas Mavericks assistant coach, becoming a part of the staff of former Spurs assistant coach Avery Johnson. The team made it to the 2006 NBA Finals, losing to the Miami Heat in six games[7]. The team ended the 2006–07 season with the best record in the league, led by MVP Dirk Nowitzki, but were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Don Nelson's Golden State Warriors[8]. Prunty left the Mavericks for the Portland Trail Blazers[9][10] in 2008 when Avery Johnson was fired[11] and replaced with Rick Carlisle[12].

While Prunty was a member of the Trail Blazers' coaching staff, the team had back-to-back 50 win seasons for the first time since the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 NBA seasons. He also served as the Blazers' head coach during the NBA Summer League in 2008 and 2009. [9] He joined the Cleveland Cavaliers as an assistant coach in 2010, spending three seasons as a member of Byron Scott's team. On August 20, 2013, he was hired as an assistant coach by the Brooklyn Nets[13]. Nets' head coach Jason Kidd was suspended for the first two games of the season after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge stemming from an incident in July 2012[14]. Kidd named Prunty to serve as acting head coach for the team's season opener against Cleveland Cavaliers and their home opener against Miami Heat. The team went 1–1 in these games with a loss against Cleveland and a win against Miami.

Kidd left the Nets for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014 and Prunty joined the staff there. On December 20, 2015, Prunty was named the interim head coach for 17 games as Kidd underwent hip surgery.[15] The team went 8–9 during that time,[16] a significant improvement after beginning the season 10–18. With Prunty at the helm, the team played at a faster pace with a greater emphasis on offensive rebounds, which resulted in a much improved offensive rating.[17] The Bucks reached the playoffs during the 2016–17 season, losing to the Toronto Raptors in six games. After beginning the 2017–18 season with a disappointing 23–22 record and falling to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, head coach Kidd was fired,[18] and Prunty was named interim head coach on January 22, 2018 before they began their game against the Phoenix Suns.[19] After winning that game, for the rest of the season onward, the Bucks would improve just enough to gain the 7th seed of the Eastern Conference in the 2018 NBA Playoffs, facing against the Boston Celtics in the first round. While Milwaukee would be competitive throughout the series, they would ultimately lose the first round 4-3. Prunty would remain with the Bucks until May 17, when Mike Budenholzer would be named his replacement. On June 4, 2018, it was announced that Prunty would join the Phoenix Suns as their leading assistant coach.[20]

National team career

Joe Prunty was named the head coach of the Great Britain men's national basketball team in June 2013 after an extensive interview process following Chris Finch's resignation. The choice was initially somewhat controversial as Prunty had little previous international coaching experience.[21] Prunty's first campaign as GB head coach was Eurobasket 2013, the team having qualified due to their participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Despite being without top players Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Joel Freeland, and Pops Mensah-Bonsu and losing all six of their friendlies leading up to Eurobasket, the team upset Israel in their first game of the tournament, earning a dramatic overtime victory.[22] However, Great Britain ended the group phase with a 2–3 record, not good enough to advance. Because of this result, UK Sport cut its funding for the team.

Despite the future of the British national team looking bleak due to the budget constraints, Prunty stayed on as coach as the team attempted to qualify for Eurobasket 2015. The cut in funding meant the team could not afford the insurance costs required to recruit top players, had to cancel training camp, and required players to sleep in dorm beds and live on £15 a day.[23] After losses to Bosnia and Iceland, the team failed to qualify for the tournament.[24]

With funding from Sport England[25], the team set out in 2016 to qualify for Eurobasket 2017. Their 3–3 record in their group was good enough to ensure that they were one of the four top runners-up in all of the qualifying groups. For the 2017 tournament, they ended up in the very tough Group D, facing off against Belgium, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, and hosts Turkey.[26] Despite keeping most of the games close, the team went 0–5 at the tournament and were not able to advance to the knockout phase.[27]

Due to changes from FIBA in the qualifying process for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics that conflict with the NBA[28], Prunty was forced to step down as head coach of the Great Britain men's national team after Eurobasket 2017. Under Prunty's tenure, the team went 11–37 with a 5-15 record in competitive games[29]. Despite the lackluster record, Prunty is credited with creating a close communication culture within the team that kept the program afloat during difficult times, with at least one player on record saying he would not have considered playing for the team without Prunty as head coach.[30][31]


Head coaching record

NBA

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Milwaukee 2017–18 372116.5683rd in Central734.429Lost in First Round
Career 372116.568734.429

Personal life

Prunty and his wife Laura have been married since 2002. They have two children, Luke and Emma.[4][32]

References

  1. ↑ Neter, Sam. "Joe Prunty Officially Named as New GB Senior Men's Head Coach". Hoopsfix. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  2. ↑ Woods, Mark. "Search for Prunty Successor Under Way". MVP. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Joe Prunty Joins Reiter's Block". cbssports.com. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "Joe Prunty". nba.com. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  5. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2018/04/17/bucks-interim-coach-joe-prunty-playoffs-selling-beer/524423002/
  6. ↑ Gardner, Charles F. "Bucks interim coach Joe Prunty got NBA coaching start with Spurs". jsonline.com. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  7. ↑ "Wade Leads Heat to First NBA Championship". NBA.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-01.
  8. ↑ McCauley, Jane. "Warriors Upset Mavs to Clinch First-Round Series". NBA.com. Associated Press.
  9. 1 2 "McMillan gets a new assistant". Portland Tribune. 2008-07-07. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  10. ↑ http://www.nba.com/nets/jay-humphries-bio.
  11. ↑ "Mavs, Johnson part ways after team's playoff ouster". ESPN.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  12. ↑ Conway, James P. "Mavericks Coach: Dallas Hires Rick Carlisle, But Bigger Problems Loom". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  13. ↑ "Brookyln Nets Finalize Coaching Staff". NBA.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  14. ↑ Mazzeo, Mike. "Jason Kidd suspended two games". ESPN.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "Bucks' kidd taking leave of absence to rehab back". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. December 20, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Coach Jason Kidd returns to Bucks sideline". NBA.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  17. ↑ Treske, Jordan. "Milwaukee Bucks: Examining The Progress Under Joe Prunty". Behind the Buck Pass. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  18. ↑ "Bucks Relieve Jason Kidd Of Head Coaching Duties". NBA.com. January 22, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  19. ↑ Armas, Genaro C. (January 22, 2018). [www.nba.com/article/2018/01/22/milwaukee-bucks-coach-jason-kidd-fired-report "Milwaukee Bucks fire coach Jason Kidd"] Check |url= value (help). NBA.com. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Ex-Bucks interim coach Joe Prunty to become Suns' lead assistant". espn.com. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  21. ↑ Woods, Mark. "Joe Prunty in Line for GB Coaching Gig". MVP. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  22. ↑ Woods, Mark. "Joe Prunty takes the lead for Britain". ESPN.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  23. ↑ "Great Britain's Kieron Achara reveals £15-a-day struggle". BBC.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  24. ↑ "GB Fail to Qualify for Eurobasket Finals after Iceland Defeat". gbbasketball.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  25. ↑ Roan, Dan. "GB Basketball secures emergency funding from Sport England". bbc.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  26. ↑ "Eurobasket 2017: Great Britain drawn to play group games in Istanbul". bbc.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  27. ↑ "EuroBasket 2017: Great Britain men's results & standings". bbc.com. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  28. ↑ Ziller, Tom. "FIBA made a shortsighted change that could doom global basketball". SB Nation. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  29. ↑ @markbritball (7 September 2017). "Joe Prunty's GB coaching W-L record: 11–37 (23%) Competitive games: 5–15 (26%) Chris Finch: 35–53 (40%) Comp: 21–16 (57%)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. ↑ Neter, Sam. "Soko: If it Wasn't for Prunty I Wouldn't Play for GB". Hoopsfix. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  31. ↑ Woods, Mark. "Joe P Game for One Final Family Trip". MVP. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  32. ↑ @CavsFredMcLeod (16 July 2012). "hands together for asst coach, Joe Prunty & wife Laura, as baby daughter, Emma Lorraine joins Cavs family...big brother, Luke is pumped!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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